CLAUSON CLAMPS DOWN BLOOMINGTON "SPRINTWEEK" FEATURE

Bloomington, Indiana…….Bryan Clauson of Noblesville, Indiana started the week with some tough nights, but he’s finding his groove late in the week. On Friday night at Bloomington Speedway, he made it back-to-back wins as he won the 30-lapper for Round 6 of “Indiana Sprintweek” and took the week-long point lead in the process.

Three-time winner this week, Kevin Thomas, Jr., jumped from outside the front row and appeared to be headed for an amazing fourth win of the week and a strong point lead heading into the finale on Saturday at Tri-State Speedway. He opened up a huge lead as Clauson worked on Ryan Bernal for second.

Just as Clauson moved to the second spot, Thomas encountered traffic and his progress slowed. Clauson closed in quickly, looking to the outside in turn-three before driving by Thomas for the lead off turn-two on lap 18. Thomas’ troubles continued, as he was losing power steering.

Chase Stockon and Brady Bacon also were making moves and ran down Thomas as they stayed in lapped traffic. Thomas continued to fade before finally flying off the track and bringing out the caution with two laps to go. Clauson was unstoppable, though, and he held off Stockon by .551 seconds to win in the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing – Chevy Performance #20 Beast/Kistler.

“This is huge for us to back it up and win again tonight. Our car was really maneuverable, which was really important tonight, especially in traffic. It was a timing game to hit a run and get by him up there. (Crew chief) Bob (East) made a couple great adjustments prior to the race. I was happy to see the late cautions just to get us out of traffic,” Clauson said.

Stockon picked up his first podium finish of the week in the Superior Tank & Trailer – Crescent Electric Supply #32 DRC/Fisher.

“Lapped cars kinda helped me get to second, and I thought we might have a shot at Bryan. Then, they seemed to go the other way on me. I was just trying to hit my marks, and luckily we hung on for second. We had the car pretty free, and that definitely paid off for us,

Bacon came home third in the Hoffman Auto Racing – Mean Green #69 Triple X/Stanton Mopar, moving up to second in points for the week in the process.

“We left the car super free to try to be able to roll around guys. We’ll take another good finish. We’re finally picking up some consistency, and this last half of Sprintweek has been really good for us,” Bacon said.

With the win, Clauson goes into Saturday’s finale with a 26-point lead over Bacon in the standings.

“I’ve been through enough of these to know that it’s not over yet. I knew that when we were down quite a few points, too. So much can happen over a week, and you just have to make the best of bad situations when you have them. Fortunately, we were able to do that and have a little something to work with tomorrow,” Clauson said.